Need a smoke with your food or coffee? If you’re in Los Angeles, take it outside – and then keep going.

The one-year grace period on a citywide ban on smoking in outdoor eating areas expires soon, and the law will be enforced beginning March 8, officials reminded the public Thursday from the patio of a Starbucks in a northern part of the city.

If caught, and ticketed – although one official said that would likely be rare – the smoker and eating establishment could both face $250 in fines.

Smokers will now have to be at least 10 feet away from restaurant patios and doors, as well as food trucks. The ban excludes bars and over-18 establishments.

“We’re very pleased to be at the forefront of this fight to clean up our environment so that those who don’t smoke do not suffer the effects of secondhand smoke,” Councilman Greig Smith said.

Secondhand smoke is responsible for about 3,400 lung cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults each year across the nation and about 46,000 deaths from heart disease in nonsmokers who live with smokers, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 50,000 to 300,000 children younger than 18 months get lung infections as a result of secondhand smoke, which increases the severity of asthma attacks in up to 1 million children, according to the American Cancer Society.

About 20 percent of U.S. adults are smokers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new law follows state and city ordinances banning smoking in public parks and beaches.

The ordinance was first introduced in L.A. in 2008 and took effect last March – with a one-year nonenforcement grace period.

“We all have vices, whatever they may be,” Councilman Tom LaBonge said. “But the vice of smoking now is going to be squeezed out of these areas. These are going to be free spaces.

“If you do want to take a smoke, take a walk. But pick your butts up,” LaBonge said. “All of us look to be cooperative. We don’t want to see any kind of battles.”

“Reducing tobacco smoke exposure to children, seniors and those at risk is a health benefit that will reap rewards for the public’s health and the health of businesses that implement these measures for their customers,” said Steven Gallegos, chairman of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free L.A. County.